The Rise 

If a movie about a strange and crazy day is commercially successful, why not recycle it and double the kookiness quotient? That seems to be the logic behind this followup to Freaky Friday.

Netflix takes some liberties in its portrayal of Madame CJ Walker, a trailblazing Black entrepreneur.

A summary of the films featured in this annual event taking place in Westchester.

The film may be a thriller, but I wasn’t thrilled by it. If anything, I was bored and annoyed.

I write for a diversity-focused film review blog, so I’ll be honest: I really wanted to like Pretty Lethal. Starring Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Avantika, and Millicent Simmonds, Amazon Prime’s new thriller seemed like it would be a girl power movie about dancers with a horror action twist. Sort of a Suspiria for teens. But with shallow and unlikeable characters, a confusing plot, an overreliance on violence, and cringey dialogue, any fun the movie started out with was quickly lost. What was left was a faint echo of greater horror movies about dancers made before. 

The film exhibits a respect for the craft and an empathy for human tribulations that have historically been ignored.